Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity,
and the rod of his fury will fail.
Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed,
for he shares his bread with the poor.
Proverbs 22:8-9
"...God commands you to live graciously because he is gracious. He commands you to be patient and merciful because such things find their beginning in him. And you not only know him, but you know his grace. God has extended mercy to you, blessing and forgiving you when you deserved much less. As a child of God, represent your Father well by showing grace. Sow it." - Joe Thorn (Note To Self: The Discipline Of Preaching To Yourself)
This was especially convicting for me as I struggle (a bit) with being graceful/filled to people I think are wrong; being rude, mean, or generally annoying can get you a judgement call from me in a big fat hurry. ("What kind of awful person *are* you?!") Lots of times I try to chalk my "judgey-ness" up as righteous indignation but it's almost always just me taking an ego trip because I feel like I do a better job of not being those things. (I'm just the epitome of pleasantness, you know. Ha!) Of course, it's so easy to say "Oh yes, I'm going to work on extending grace to those people that just bug the snot out of me." but it is so much harder to do it when my un-graciousness comes out a split second after an offense. My Mom has a great description of *actually* succeeding at this as "flexing your grace muscles" and it's true! At first it's like trying to do a million push-ups when you've never done *one* before. But then you work at it, work at it some more, and eventually it gets a little easier and you get a little closer. So, here's to a good workout!
This was especially convicting for me as I struggle (a bit) with being graceful/filled to people I think are wrong; being rude, mean, or generally annoying can get you a judgement call from me in a big fat hurry. ("What kind of awful person *are* you?!") Lots of times I try to chalk my "judgey-ness" up as righteous indignation but it's almost always just me taking an ego trip because I feel like I do a better job of not being those things. (I'm just the epitome of pleasantness, you know. Ha!) Of course, it's so easy to say "Oh yes, I'm going to work on extending grace to those people that just bug the snot out of me." but it is so much harder to do it when my un-graciousness comes out a split second after an offense. My Mom has a great description of *actually* succeeding at this as "flexing your grace muscles" and it's true! At first it's like trying to do a million push-ups when you've never done *one* before. But then you work at it, work at it some more, and eventually it gets a little easier and you get a little closer. So, here's to a good workout!
Great word, Noble! Thanks for the reminder. It was just what I needed. :-)
ReplyDeleteMe, too! Guess we all need a grace work-out! :)
ReplyDelete